Privacy regulations in Europe is “forcing” Meta to roll out an ad-free subscription option in the European Union, Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland. Critics have spoken up against what they call as “Meta’s latest attempts to resist real change”.

Tobias Judin, spokesperson for Norway’s privacy watchdog, Datatilsynet, does not believe that the pay-for-privacy model will stop Meta’s behavioral advertising. He says, “Essentially this amounts to extortion: Either pay us or give away all of your rights”.

Editor’s Note: The problem with this pay-for-privacy model is that the biggest violators of our privacy are our own governments. Tech companies are used to collect data for propaganda, as well as evidence against those who are against the tyrannical policies of their governments.

Also, even if Meta promises a no-ad scheme for their European users, they will continue to collect personal data, which can then be used to train their AI. Meta’s new scheme would reek of privilege for the classes that are able to pay, everyone else will have to give up their data. This then brings up a fundamental question: is data protection a universal right?

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